Eurovision 2015 – Tonight is the first night of the most important part of the Eurovision Season… The voting. Tonight is the Jury Rehearsal of Semi Final One where the acts will perform for the five member jury’s across Europe (and Australia)
The line up for Semi Final One is as follows:
1. Moldova – Eduard Romanyuta “I Want Your Love”
2. Armenia – Genealogy “Face Every Shadow”
3. Belgium – Loïc Nottet “Rhythm Inside”
4. The Netherlands – Trijntje Oosterhuis “Walk Along”
5. Finland – Pertti Kurikan Nimipäivät “Aina Mun Pitää”
6. Greece – Elena Kyriakou “One Last Breath”
7. Estonia – Stig and Elina “Goodbye to Yesterday”
8. FYR Macedonia – Daniel Kajmakoski “Autumn Leaves”
9. Serbia – Bojana Stamenov “Beauty Never Lies”
10. Hungary – Boggie “Wars for Nothing”
11. Belarus – Uzari and Maimuna “Time”
12. Russia – Polina Gagorina “A Million Voices”
13. Denmark – Anti Social Media “The Way You Are”
14. Albania – Elhaida Dani “I’m Alive”
15. Romania – Voltaj “De La Capat”
16. Georgia – Nina Sublatti “Warrior”
The juries of these sixteen countries will be voting tonight as well as juries from Australia, Austria, France and Spain. The members of the jury have to judge based on the following criteria…
Vocal Capacity
The performance on stage
The composition and originality of the song
The overall impression by the act
The jury has 50% say in the voting… unless Georgia do what they did last year. If you can recall, the five Georgian jury members had the exact same Top 8 and their votes had to be discounted giving the televoters 100% say in the final outcome. Will there be any ESC drama tonight?
The Eurovision Times 
I hope they vote wisely.
We should be there holding placards reading ”Vote wisely, not tactically”.
Good idea :)
Will Australia be televoting?
Last I heard they were looking for a way to do it.
Despite being so late this year and seemingly never coming, the last week or so has flown by and now ESC is just around the corner.
Sadly I have work tomorrow, so won’t be able to watch it live, but if Moldova and Serbia get through I might just have enoigh motivation to watch the repeat!
Will Australia be televoting?
Last I heard they were looking for a way to do it.
SBS will ring them one by one :p
I read that they are televoting
Things start to get serious tonight … :)
If Australia televotes that would be interesting. Us Europeans we are in need of smth interesting to listen to and vote while having our alcohol. What will Australians would like to hear while spreading their butter and drinking their coffee? By the way being so early on a week-day the only ones to watch would be the pensioners and UNI students with no early class that day :p
… plus prisoners, the unemployed, people working late shift, peeople on holiday, people on sick leave, truanting pupils, people with a working smart phone/tablet who got lost in the outback … ;) :)
Those lost in the outback will vote Georgia !
Denmark and Romania makegreat song for morning. Hungary will make them go back to bed. FYR Macedonia is the big question mark. Either it will match the weather or some will hate it knowing summer is reaching Europe while winter is looming there :p The prisoners will fall in love with Moldova :p
LOL
Iceland and the Netherlands have morning songs too imo. :) A bit later, on the way to work, Israel, Lithuania and Slovenia will fit perfectly. Oh my, Moldova will give those lonely prisoners some naughty fantasies for sure …
In the UK we call Australia a convict colony, cos there all descended from prisoners! ;)
Moldova 12 points from Australia?!?!
LOL :)
The historic prison sites of Australia are even part of the UNESCO World Heritage. :)
I don’t think it will broadcast live in Australia.So i don’t know how on earth they will use televoting.
Perhaps by postal vote :p
The first semi is scheduled for Friday,7.30 p.m.
There is always the internet.
But you can’t use televoting counting on people watching from the internet at 5 a.m.
They might try it. If not, juries vote’s will count only.
They might collect the votes via internet, you never know. Aks for example people to cast their vote during those hours.
There are EBU rules.Internet votes are not allowed.
Exceptions. The whole Australia has been an exception this year anyway :p
Cyprus is still climbing the ladder :p
http://www.oddschecker.com/tv/eurovision
France and Cyprus doing better than Latvia… :(
Well I am happy about Cyprus. I didn’t expect that tbh.
You should wait for the actual results first.lol
Australia is supposed to be televoting, but I can’t see many people tuning it at 5 a.m. on a Wednesday morning to do so. As a result I expect our televote to be skewed hugely towards diaspora (so expect 12 points for Greece and big points for Armenia and Serbia in the semi-final).
On a related note, Lee Lin Chin has been announced as the Australian spokesperson. I am legitimately excited – she is one of Australia’s most senior and respected news journalists, renowned for her “unique” taste in fashion, and more recently, forays into comedy. She’s great.
and the UK has Nigella Lawson who is a TV chef who was done for Drug possession. Why the BBC chose her I’ll never know
One for the lads!!!
Nadav Guedj needs whatever cream she is using cos theres no way she’s in her 50’s and there’s no way he’s only 16 ;)
:)
Actually, ignore those links above and watch this instead, LOL
LOL indeed. :)
I love the Aussie humor around Eurovision, it’s why I don’t mind having them in.
I am always in favor of 50/50 but the jury ,who are supposed to be expert in music, should only be assigned by EBU… not the state TVs…only then we don’t have jurries like having the same top8 or placing the certain countries at the bottom on purpose…
Good luck to every participants competing in semi 1😊
May the best qualify
We are just getting ready to go see the final dress rehearsal before tonight, that starts at 15.00 (CET). Then we have an invite to the British Embassy for an Electro Velvet reception, then we’ll dash back to the arena to see the jury final tonight at 21.00 (CET). We have cheap seated tickets for it. Then it’s onto Euroclub for the Israeli party tonight.
So envious right now!!!!
Sounds like a fun day, will you or Jade be covering the rehearsals in an article?
Also have fun at the Israeli party (rather fitting the only party song throwing a big party
#GoldenBOY!
Sounds like loads of fun. :)
Australian HoD : “We want to compete again more than anything else” 😁
I really hope they do, I don’t think they will win, but I hope they do well enough that EBU changes its mind and lets them come back.
I know a few Grinches on here won’t be happy, but they don’t understand the spirit of Eurovision. Whether you are from a tiny village in Iceland, or your house got demolished to make way for the flame towers in Baku, or even from the Australian Outback, EVERYONE IS WELCOME!!! :D
Based on what we’ve seen so far, I guess only Estonia, Russia, Georgia, Greece, and Armenia are sure qualifiers.
A random prediction of the jury ranking:
1.Estonia 2.Russia 3.Greece 4.Armenia 5.Albania 6.Hungary 7.Denmark 8.Georgia 9.Belgium 10. Netherlands 11.Romania 12.Serbia 13.Belarus 14.Macedonia 15.Moldova 16.Finland
Russia will probably win the televoting (and the actual semifinal), followed by Estonia.
I have no idea of what we can expect from Finalnd, they could either come top3 in the televoting or get an average result and come second to last (just like Portugal in 2011).
“Russia will probably win the televoting (and the actual semifinal)”
Maybe in Orthodox Cyprus but not overall.
I think either Estonia, Georgia, or (god forbid) FInland will win the Semi. Russia will probably get itself block voted into the top 5, but a win, NO!
I don’t get you. Cyprus doesn’t vote in this semi-final …
I don’t think that Finland will come dead last with the juries. My money is on Moldova. :)
Sadly I think you are right, :(
It’s so unfair, I can handle my faves losing if they lose fairly, but if Televoters put Moldova through and then juries override that it will just hurt so bad!
Hurting is part of the ESC experience every year. I still hurt from Amandine Bourgeois’ fate …
Well yes I;ve always been upset when songs I like didn’t do well, but I can handle that it’s part of the experience
But its one thing to lose outright, it’s another thing entirely to have your qualification/high placing/victory given to you by millions of televoters stripped away by a couple of mostly unknown individuals.
People who support the juries only tend to support them because they favour the songs they like. If they changed the format one day, perhaps picked 5 OGAE members from each country and the juries suddenly started putting fun songs through, at the expense of songs like Norway, Estonia or Latvia, all the people currently in favour of the juries would quickly change their tune about how unfair it is.
The concept of juries were mis sold to us, we were told it’d stop block voting, but it hasn’t instead its stopping diversity and creativity, hence why so many songs this year sound the same, 15 of which scored 0 by the main fan group. (Yes OGAE is not all fans, but a show does need to respect its main fanbase)
Well, I think that we have a pretty strong line-up this year but I agree on the lack of diversity. But if we are honest, we didn’t have much diversity in the 100 % televote era either. There were far too many joke entries that weren’t about music at all and ethno shake shakes imo. The juries have stopped neighbour/political/cultural voting in some countries (in particular regarding the migrant vote in Central and Western Europe) whereas it changed very little in the way the ex-Soviet countries vote. The Balkans are somewhere inbetween imo. I am no fan of the juries either but atm we still need them if we want ESC to survive for another 60 years. They are a neccessary evil. :(
I’d make it 10 jurors though, and require all 10 to have a music background in different genres and professions.
Even when shake shakes were winning we didn’t have that many per year. Not like the ballads this year with over half.
I agree actually about juries stopping the migrant vote, ie Belgium and Netherlands not being as friendly in the points to Armenia. But just as the Belarussian public love Russia, the Belarussian jury loves Russia too, so it’s almost like double the power.
I think we did have a diverse range in televoting because the public is diverse, every year there was something new now we had the fun, the gimmicks, the shakers, but we also had the ballads, the rock songs, the rap, now we just have 10 women screaming their guts out like they’ve got constipation and trying to shift one!
The public is not diverse at all imo. Plus, we don’t have 50 % ballads this year. On the other hand, half of the songs in 2008 were joke entries or mostly bad shake shakes. From a musical point of view, ESC had become a laughing stock. It would have died a slow death in Germany and many other countries.
Jade did her statistics article that showed 56% were slow songs/ballads.
And 2008 was not mostly jokes, you had 5 at most, not 22 Ireland Estonia, Latvia, Bosnia, Spain and who else?
Shake shakes we had Armenia , Netherlands, and arguably Greece.
Whereas ballads you had Portugal, Serbia, Romania, Norway, just off the top of my head sure there was more.
And you need ballads to break the fun songs up, and need fun songs to break the ballads up.
I like shake its, but I couldnt listen to 7 shake its in a row, and they’d struggle to stand out, now in Semi 2 this year we have 7 slow and/or ballads in a row and the reason for that is countries picking what they think juries will like. Look at Ireland, in their NF they just looked at last years Top 3, and said lets get something as close to that as possible.
In fact look at 2014, I did like 2 of the Top 3, and both were ballads, but then look at 2007, we had a big ballad win, a crazy fun one come 2nd, and rock chicks in 3rd, much more diverse.
I need to go now. I remember Jade’s article but Anders explained that there were far less ballads this year. Not every slow song is a ballad after all. :)
youtube videos of first rehearsal , the most the people look from all world
Spain, 133.531
Sweden 57,460
the rest much much lower
something is changing , is in the air, good luck to all countrys
If you are implying that Spain is about to make a late surge I think you are wrong, even though I do like the Spanish song and find it the best of the Big 5. (Australia is best of Automatic qualifiers overall imo)
Looking good for Sweden though.
Am worried for Sweden as they haven’t actually won a single fan poll, but thankfully they are still at the top of the betting odds and have remained there the whole time. Hopefully similar to Denmark 2013!!!
Well that’s it, am all packed and set to head off to Vienna later this evening. Hope everyone has a fabulous week watching the semi finals and the grand final on Saturday. I will endeavour to drop in as and when I can. Have fun everyone and enjoy! Good luck to all participants. :)
Have a great time! :)
Have a great time. Will you meet the ET ladies?
Thanks guys.:)
Hopefully. I have to find my way around first but will probably start at the Eurovision Village. I will be meeting up with some people I met up with in Copenhagen last year also the Irish fans (of course) and no doubt new Eurovision friends.
Have a great time in Vienna, Martin!
Pls, give Vaclav a hug in my name if you see him around :P :D
Thanks Oxi :)
I’ll try and hunt him down especially ;)
;)
Bets odd say no much , last year Conchita was not in the top 10 in the betts and was winning , everything can happen this year , inclusive Latvia can win
Um she was!
Think she was like 5th going into the ESC week and then rose to 2nd just before the final.
No, I think she was somewhere around place 10 in the odds.
It was Armenia then Sweden fighting it out for first place, and I’m sure the Top 5 was finished off with UK in 3rd, Hungary 4th and Austria 5th.
Then just before the final, on the Friday I think it became Sweden 1st, Austria 2nd, Armenia 3rd and the UK had fallen back to somewhere around the Top 10
No.Stommie is right.Conchita was around 10th place at the start of the esc week and only gained momentum and claimed the 1st place with the betting odds hours after her semi performance and into Friday.In fact,last year we had 2 underdogs winning the top-2 places in the end.
im hoping for reviews from people who will be at the jury semi final.
I’m watching the jury rehearsal from the press centre and I really think Moldova could do it. It looked really good
At the start each country gets called and they walk on stage and you know people are going to be intrigued
Belgium great again.
Belgium has fallen into 15th place in winning betting odds :( Latvia is now 10th and France 12th. Russia has climbed 4th…
Well let’s hope they don’t know what they’re talking about
Where is Loïc in the SF1 odds?
8th to qualify currently :(
:(
:(
Belgium is a weird one. The other day I felt worried he won’t qualify them after rehearsal today I felt positive again but now I’ve seen the jury rehearsal I’m worried again
His performance was great still but it’s better live than on the telly
Last year my fave was a Big 5 so I wasnt nervous but this year I’m very nervous for my favourite Belgium
It’s 7th to qualify actually.This hasn’t changed.Albania is 8th.
Oh he must have gone up recently, when I wrote the comment he was below Albania.
It’s only winning betting odds, and I never expected Loïc to win anyway. Too different for the majority of ESC audiences imo. Around 5th would be a success even if I’d personally love to see Belgium win.
Russia is literally having a breakthrough, it’s odds are constantly shortening and is now threatening Australia in 3rd place..
Could be well in the top 3 after tomorrow’s semi…
P.S. I do not expect Loic to win either (would be an amazing surprise though) but at least to qualify..And esc audiences had a warm welcome for Loic mostly plus most people watching are not strict esc audiences either.
My only hope is that after his semi final performance he will rise a bit..
I am confident that Loic will qualify and be in the top 10 when all is said and done. :)
Russia won’t win. You need a Conchita to make a big ballad win imo, and as lovely as Polina is, she’s to bland to win at the end of the day. I hope that I am right. If I was a religious guy, I would cross myself now. What the heck, I’ll do it. *crossing myself* I’ll do everything to stop Russia from winning, even go out for dinner with Nigel Farage … (just kidding …)
I am not as confident about Loic but I appreciate your optimism :)
Russia looks likely to pick the 12p from Belarus, Armenia, Georgia, Azerbaijan, a 10p from Moldova (12p to Romania of course) and I am not sure what the baltic states will do..I can see a range of 8p – 12p to Russia from them.
She will probably pick quite good votes from Serbia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Albania, Cyprus and Greece.
So far it won’t be enough to win honestly. But Polina needs to score really badly in all central and west europe to lose this based on the patterns in my mind right now…I hope that’s a likely scenario.
I would do anything to stop Russia from winning as well, especially with THAT song. But the best I can do is cross myself as well in a non religious way and not vote for them..
A contest in Russia right now, after a year all about diversity apparently would be disastrous IMO.
And Australia is doing worse than before.They went from 7/1 to 9/1.
Russia will overtake Australia soon I imagine, possibly after the semi tomorrow. Fingers crossed Belgium and Estonia rise as well after tomorrow’s semi (given they are in of course – that goes for Loic mainly). I can see Russia topping the odds before Sweden comes on stage on Thursday honestly…It’s scary.
On the other hand Latvia entering the top 10 of the betting odds is good imo :)
Yes!Woo hoo for Latvia!The semi performance and the odds after that will determine its fate.I don’t really know if Russia will have such a big impact on the odds.Sure,it will override Australia and may threaten Italy but claiming the 1st place won’t be so easy,imo.
I still believe Belgium will have no problem qualifying unless his semi performance is a disaster.
At this point all I care about is for Russia not to win the contest honestly. Anyone, even Finland, but Russia please.
Let me add Australia too. :P
They now say they’d love to be back next year. :(
And China is broadcasting the 3 shows too and they have sent reporters in Vienna.Maybe they’re up next.My esc vision will be officially ruined.
lol ! I don’t think China is as fanatic about the contest as Australia. I would be ok with Australia personally, as long as they do not pick russia as host (unlikely although if their prime minister was head of SBS he would enthusiastically choose Russia..).
Nina looked in pain but she sang very well
A bit of fun…. The fake results…
Denmark
Belarus
Albania
FYROM
Georgia
Finland
Serbia
Romania
Hungary
Estonia
According to escxtra,Maria-Elena had a great jury semi rehearsal.
:)
The 4 guys of eurovisionary give their views on who will qualify and who won’t qualify: http://www.eurovisionary.com/jury-final-half-of-the-votes-of-the-first-semi-final-given-out/
They did not tell us something we did not know. The 6 entries that have a 4/4 are pretty certain, Armenia is pretty certain imo as well. It’s telling that only the guy from Turkey says Belgium won’t qualify. Don’t want to generalize here but I always said it’s not a song that will gather votes from the eastern parts of europe.
And then it all gets tricky. The only interesting thing is the unanimity about Belarus not qualifying and the near unanimity about Hungary..
Everyone predicting Armenia not to qualify must be delusional considering the countries voting …
This is so well-performed and this ethno bridge is haunting.It reminds me of the good old esc.I’m even tempted to vote for them.I can’t see them failing to qualify at this point.
I don’t like it but they will qualify and end up around 15th place in the final imo.
Reactions from the reporters at the press center after the dress rehearsal:
http://esctoday.com/103927/vienna-calling-reactions-to-semi-final-1-dress-rehearsal/
Thanks for both links, Dimitri. :) It seems that Belgium did well. :) Russia will win this semi and will give Sweden and Italy a big scare next Saturday. :(
Good night, everyone! :)
Good night!